We began our class with an introduction to brushes, pigment and paper. We practiced washes and glazes and were introduced to three ways to apply watercolor (wet in wet, wet on dry and dry brushing).

Laura Lindsay3

Laura Lindsay

We talked about different color combinations and practiced painting some of them.

Laura Lindsay4

In the third class it was all about trees and foliage and the different ways (sponge, pointillism, scumbling, salt, frisket) texture could be rendered in watercolor.

Roxanne Yoquelet3

Laura Lindsay2

Roxanne Yoquelet2

Then it was on to “Big Sky” and “Big Water” and how to allow the water on your paper to mingle color. How to splatter and how to let go of the reference material a little and allow the water to help create the painting.

Roxanne Yoquelet5

Laura Lindsay5

On the fifth week, we discussed buildings and perspective and that they were composed of a collection of shapes that fit together. I was knocked off my feet when I saw the two paintings, above! What beautiful work after only five weeks.

On the last night of class, we practiced painting “little people” to use in our landscape paintings in the future.

A huge thank you to Roxanne and Laura for giving me permission to share their paintings with others.

Those of you, who follow my blog, know that I and a friend spent the summer learning to paint from a monochromatic rendering and transform it with splatter and drips and color. The explanation of how to approach these is found here and here.

I shared this process with my watercolor landscape classes this fall. The above paintings are a result of my demos and explanations for these classes. The top one is a composite of several different photo references I had taken. The horses are from one farm, not this one. The high tension wires were from yet another farm than the one I chose to sit in the distance. Tip on “how to” wires? I lightly used a graphite pencil, first. Then I painted them really carefully with a rigger and paynes gray, resting my hand on the paper and dragging the brush at a 45 degree angle as I slid my hand across the paper. I softened and blurred those wires with light rubbings of a magic eraser so they would appear to fade and return, varying the values of the wires in spots. I used liguid frisket to preserve the white of the paper on barn roofs, white buildings and the foreground horses. I had to splatter those areas following painting in the details. That painting developed, gradually, and changed with every layer I painted into it.

The concrete works piece was purely experimental on my part. I wanted to see if I could create something a little different and unique with interesting shapes.

I will continue to create paintings like this. I like all that goes into them and the fact that I’m always creating something new with each and every one.